Daniela Ryf had a tough day at the office at Challenge Gran Canaria; a mental mistake followed by food issues, she did well to drive home. Long distance racing is more than talent, and one has to respect the distance.
A tougher day was had by Rei Colucci at 70.3 Palmas with a bike accident during the race. After picking himself up and continuing, one should note that his effort was a sign of his courage. We will wait 2 days and run checks in his injuries.
Corinne Abraham kicked off her race season also in Gran Canaria building back from injury. Her performances are aimed at June so we happy to see her back.

Matt Leeman took on the Paphos Triathlon in Cyprus which again became a Duathlon due to the winds. Matt doesn’t normally do Olympic distance as 70.3 and Ironman are his now prefferred distances but we saw this as a good chance to just race, with the objective to race hard on the bike. Matt lead the race from start to finish; he came into T1 ready to hit the bike hard and he just increased his lead on the bike to around 3mins. On to the run, Matt held on with a very solid performance, crossing the line first and great prep for his next race.
Dimos Paps (Cypriot 70.3 Champ) also raced in Paphos as it’s his home race, but we again decided this was a training exercise for him. Dimos started well and came into T1 sixth. He pushed very hard to make up some ground on the bike, picking up two places finding himself in 4th going into the last run. Having a large amount of training in his body Dimos held on and crossed the line in fourth position

Fourth place at Xterra Cyprus, good job Daz.

Xterra Cyprus had its first event this weekend with a fantastic setting, however the winds on race morning unfortunately forced it to a Duathlon also, as the sea was too rough but it didn’t stop the race being a success. Daz Parker started off very well on the first run and looked strong. Going out onto the hard bike course across some pretty tough terrain in hot windy conditions, she moved up a place coming into T2 in fourth. She worked hard on the second run, putting in a very solid performance crossing the line fourth Pro Overall and continuing her progress this winter.

World qualifier for Davina; finishing in 3rd place overall in Stockton.

Davina Greenwell raced the Stockton Duathlon which was also a World and European qualifier. A couple of weeks ago Davina had a great result at Bedford WITH 5th overall and 2nd in her Age Cat, but could she back that up? Yes she could! Davina is improving quickly; we have pushed the volume at training recently so this race wasn’t as you may say ‘fresh’ but she was ready to have a go and race. Davina worked very hard on the first run and held a strong position on the bike where for the first time she started to really feel the overgear work paying off. On the second run and it was time to hang in there and hang in there she did, crossing the line third Overall and qualifing for the World and European champs.
Very well done to you all great racing

Chia Laguna Half Triathlon (Sardinia – Italy):
Jonathan Ciavatella, 3rd place M PRO behind Jan Frodeno and Alberto Casadei in 4:01.23. It was Jo’s first race under my guidance and we are very happy with the result. He suffered a strained calf during the second half of the run, so Jonathan took the right decision to slow down a little bit and finish well. Further races are much more important for us! Very well done Jo, we are working into the right direction!

Martina Dogana, F PRO, since a few weeks had to battle with different physical issues, so for her only swim and bike was possible. It was a good training, now we have to work on the recovery in order to get on also with the run training.

Gabriella Picco won her age group F50-54 in 5:34.35 and took 10th place overall! A very good race for her, especially also the last leg, she run a 1:47 half marathon. Excellent Gabi, very proud!

Massimo running very good race at Chia Laguna Half.

Massimo Argiolas, M50-54, placed 5th in his age group in 5:02.44. Massimo was vey balanced throughout the race, but his bike time of 2.40 is fantastic. Also for him it was the first race of the season and we are looking forward to the next one with a lot of confidence!

Stefano Pavan raced the Cavallino no draft triathlon (1,8 – 50 – 13km) in Italy finishing 2nd M45-49 and 26th overall. For him it was another great taste-race before IM Lanzarote. We are definitely ready Stefano!

Patricia Barros was the Ironmam 70.3 Champion in Palmas (W45-49) and won her spot to the World Championship 70.3 in USA. It was a very difficult test before IM Brazil. The heat is always the greatest enemy of this race in Palmas but Paty managed very well her pace and hydration along the course to finished first. Her teammate Helena Cirelli also finished 1st place also and overall Champion the 4th Limeira Aquathlon Championship.

The European Triathlon Season is picking up speed and the pure Duathlon season is slowly coming to an end. Two of my ladies were racing in Gran Canaria and three of my gents were doing some cold and windy races in good old Germany.
Sandra Schöni was racing Half-Challenge Gran Canaria as a test race for the big one in four weeks time: Ironman Lanzarote. With her performance on the Canarian Island she showed that she is on a good way to take on the big challenge. Sandra showed a solid performance in all three disciplines and became 2nd in her Age Group.
Alicja Medak has been on the Canarian Island for getting back into training after her really great performance at Ironman South Africa just three weeks ago. While she felt not like racing the Half-Challenge, Alicja was just picking the Olympic Distance race. She proved that she has already recovered well after the Ironman by taking the 2nd place of her Age Group.

Peter, Thomas, Steffen and Mihai were all in action this weekend.

While the ladies had a lot of sun, my three gents were not only fighting against their competitors but also against the cold winter weather in Germany.

Steffen Warias, the gourmet chef from Merseburg, was taking his second victory of the season at the Braunsbedra Duathlon which was at the same time the state championship of Saxony-Anhalt. While the weather in Germany the last week was really awful, I sent him very often to the pool and he was already wondering why he needs to swim that often although it was a Duathlon and no Swim&Run. But after this result it proved again that an unusual way can be the right one.
Peter Seidel was the other crazy guy who wanted to do a race at this conditions. He was running the Harztorlauf half marathon. Despite to the birth of his young boy Bruno just a few days ago and the need to get used to being a father Peter ran a solid half marathon and finished 3rd overall.
Thomas Schäfer, the German national team paracyclist, was racing Bad Harzburg MTB marathon. After an intensive work and training week his legs felt a bit heavy at the beginning but after a while the climbing became more and more easy. With a 6th place overall and a 4th place in his AG (all non-handicapped athletes) Thomas is really happy about this result and we can move on to the next level.
Mihai Vigariu from Romania finished 5th in the Elite field at Duathlon Buftea which was the South East European Duathlon Championship. While Duathlon is not his favourite competition it was a great test of the new strategies which we have been implementing in training. Mihai is looking forward to rock the European triathlon season!

Incredible weekend of racing for my 2 athletes.
First off Joby (who is also a dedicated father, husband and teacher) lined up for Ironman Texas which also happens to be the North American Championships. Joby races is one of the most competitive Age Groups M40-44 but I knows he could measure up to get near the pointy end seeing how well he’s been going in training. Joby is no where near new to this sport and has raced Kona a few times so finding more to an already seasoned athlete is always a challenge but something I love doing. For the last 6 months I changed around in his regular training schedule and big changes to his pre race and race nutrition. We already saw the big pay offs with his podium finish at Oceanside a few weeks ago. I think it’s safe to say we were both feeling pretty confident going into Texas.

The day started pretty rough for Joby with a non wetsuit freshwater swim- something that will always be a challenge for a non swimmer. Joby got out of the water much slower than we’d anticipated but he stayed smart, raced his race and negative split the bike to move up almost 100 places after the swim. This was a huge PB bike for Joby with a 4:48. He then got off and ran down 19 more guys with a blistering 2:57 marathon, almost a 15 min PB off the bike to snag 4th in M40-44 and another trip to the big island for Joby! I think this is the year for Joby to finally have the race he’s capable of in Kona.

Next up Nat Kerr in Australia raced the Queensland Sprint Championships in Moreton Bay. Nat was having a great race until she dropped her chain and lost a few minutes dealing with this on the side of the road. Nat rode 20% more power than she’s ever raced at and got off and held a solid run but unfortunately the mechanical cost her 1st place! I can’t wait to see Nat lay down at Cairns 70.3 in June as she hasn’t been off the podium yet this year.

On Sunday, I had two of my athletes, Arnaud Margot and Victor Manrique running the 20 kms of Lausanne, as a little warm up for their triathlon season! Arnaud Margot had a great race, he ran 1:18:20 and he was 49th out of 895 in his age group! Arnaud started out a bit conservatively for the first half and then finished off with a great last 10 kms.
Victor Manrique did a great job too. He set a new PB by 20 mins on this very hilly course! He ran 1:24:41
I’m looking forward to much more to come from these two guys once their triathlon season starts!

Lucy Biddlestone raced Challenge Gran Canaria, although having a slightly slow swim time she came out ready to attack the rest of the race mentally and physically. Lucy went on to have a strong bike and run, finishing 3rd on the podium in the 25-29 category.
Jason Wilkes also raced Challenge Gran Canaria, having been training around a busy work schedule and an annoying pain in his foot he still had a strong race, Consistent throughout the race and finishing 4th in his category.

Podium performances for Marcos and Mia. Photo Credit: Joanna Wilkes

Mia Leadbeater won the schools XX1triathlon IES Yaiza on Lanzarote. 500m swim, 8k off road bike and 2.5 off road run. (photo by Claire Leadbetter). In the same race, Marcos Knight came 2nd in the boys race.

Top Indonesian triathlete Andy Wibowo lined up at the recently concluded Strongman triathlon on the Japanese Island of Miyakojima. Of which happens to be one of the most iconic long-distance events in Asia, in it’s 33rd consecutive edition. This was his first race, over half ironman distance, and was primarily being used to test-the-waters into longer events. As well to gain valuable experience against foreign competitors. Andy, who was somewhat underprepared for this event, managed a strong finish regardless, coming in 14th overall, in a time of 8h37 over the challenging course. This is a good step up, towards his first Ironman in Kona Hawaii, this coming October.

A super season opener by Rosanna!

On the Indonesian Island of Banka, it was the 5th edition of the Sungailiat triathlon, where Bali-based English mother of two, Rosanna Bille was in action in her first race of the season. After a very solid training block in the first quarter of the year, she blazed through the challenging course, and under the exceptionally hot weather, to finish 3rd overall, behind national team athletes, and topping the overall women’s category, by almost 30 minutes, in a new PR of 2h34, over a “longish” Olympic distance event.

Chris Medaris shattered his Ironman record by 1 hour and 20 minutes at Ironman Texas this weekend. Although this was Chris’s 6th IM, it was his first with coaching. Chris had a massive time drop to go 11:43:– and decisively break the 12 hour benchmark. Chris nailed his pacing, nutrition, and hydration, and as a result, he was able to tap his potential with a flawless day. Congratulations Chris. Best of luck to you and Sharmane as you begin your new journey as parents!

Paula Ponte raced in her home country of Brazil at 70.3 Las Palmas this weekend. Despite managing a foot injury for the past month, Paula was eager to put on her run shoes and attempt to go the distance. The plan was to race with abandon on the swim and bike. That she did, emerging third from the swim and cranking out the fastest bike of the day to be first amateur woman to T2. Paula finished the day 5th amateur female and first in the 18-24 category. Awesome day from an athlete who loves to race! Well done Paula!

A super win at sunny and hilly Challenge Mogan in the Canary Islands for Gisela Reichmuth. This rounded out a nice week with a solid training block over the Easter weekend, a Wednesday evening 9.9km road race at Sursee in a snow blizzard, finishing with the sun and hills of Challenge Mogan. Notable also for keeping her cool when the chain came off damaging the rear brake, but still had enough power to maintain her lead off the bike!

Chiin-Hooi Tan ran a very respectable 3:18 time at the Hamburg Marathon on Sunday, despite her training being greatly compromised by a nasty ski fall last month, and a rolled ankle two weeks ago. It takes a certain mindset to run a marathon after only one long run in training of 16km, and very limited run training at all in the last 4 weeks. Definitely not the usual marathon plan! However a training diet of aerobic swims, bike workouts, and ‘running when able’, Chiin was able to get through. Confirmation that she is a ‘stayer’ who actually doesn’t like the long runs in training anyway, and another lesson in appreciating that ‘not everything has to be perfect’. Congratulations Chiin, astounding!

Training Days for Kat, Marko and Rafal in Gran Canaria in preparation for the season ahead.

With the triathlon season still in early days a number of my athletes were racing in road races, aquathlons and those lucky ones who came to our camp in Gran Canaria were able to measure their speed against Alistair Brownlee.

Kathrine Renouf decided to leave the camp early to run the Half London Marathon. We decided to do the same what Mo Farrah did 2 years ago running only half distance. Running on heavy legs after the camp Kat did a great job finishing in 1:22:27. A new PB by more than 4minutes. I knew she can run well but she exceeded my expectations. Now few days of well deserved few days of rest 🙂 Congratulations on a massive PB!

Kati Pusey entered a local Aquathlon as a perfect training session for her. Bike being her strongest discipline I was very please she decided to challenge herself. The swim is still work in progress but it went well and the run shown that her running legs started to come back. Kati came 6th in age group and 11th overall. Next weekend will be ‘easier’ for her when she adds her destroying bike powers to the solid swim and improving run.

After Ironman South Africa , Rafal Herman took a week of active recovery and we then shifted our focus to running training with Rafal was keen to join his friends in 10 km run in Warsaw. He surprised himself by running 39:30 which was only 10sec slower than his PB from few years ago. ‘Older but not slower’ he wrote to me after the race, very true and we only just started the running block of training aiming for further improvement.

Krzysztof Machnicki ran in the same 10k as Rafal. He described the race as the hardest run he ever did. Coming back from a virus infection and having lost almost 2 weeks of training he fought hard to break his PB. He managed to do so and also learned a very good lesson that racing not fully fit or feeling well is a very hard ask but if your mind is there the results can be very rewarding. As Daniela Ryf said in one of her interviews ‘you don’t need to feel well to go fast’! Congratulations on new PB at the Warsaw OSHEE 10 km: 38:05 !

Steve Lyons joined my camp in Gran Canaria last week and we have primarily worked on his swim technique and his run form. At the end of the camp the participants had an option to race Challenge Mogan Gran Canaria – Short distance. Needless to say he was going to the race somewhat tired form the training (no taper for training races at TriSutto) and this course was very demanding. I was very happy with Steve’s swim, the technique work was already paying off – the swim proved to be very strong despite the rough sea, his bike as strong as ever and he finished it off with a ‘hill reps’ session as we all described the run course with practically no flat sections. He surprised himself finishing 5th in Veteran 2 category!

Marko Vaisanen is just starting his journey under the Trisutto training approach. He is already making improvements on the swim and the bike and we have started working on his run speed and strength. He raced one of Finnish early season run races – a 17.5km. We have not tapered for the race, it was just a hard training run at the end of a very hard training week. Marko started very well but after 10k he started feeling the training load in his legs. He was fighting hard to keep the pace and didn’t slow down. I’m very happy with the progress he is making. A very strong run on tired legs! More to come from this very strong athlete. Congratulations on well completed hard day in the training office!

Alessandro Perini participated at the Padova half marathon and finished in 1:39.32. This time allowed him to place 90th in his age group M45. Although a few physical problems the day before the race, he was able to bring home a very good training session.

Last week Hjordis Yr Olafsdottir from Iceland could show some great run performances. Already on Thursday she ran the Icelandic 5k nationals and became 4th overall with a new personal best of 19:41. The conditions where once again very “Icelandic” with hail, storm, snow and just a little bit of sun, but she could nevertheless show a very good run performance. The 5k run was just the warmup for Hjordis because she raced the Reykjavik Halfmarathon two days later on Saturday where she could set a new personal best of 1:30:28 as well and became 4th overall again. As a fulltime working mum of two kids she can be very proud of herself! Very well done Hjordis!

Elisabeth (and Coach Christian); on route to a PB!

On Sunday there was a Marathon and Halfmarathon event near Rostock and my wife Elisabeth ran her second ever halfmarathon. I went with her to make sure that she performs to her potential ;-). She/we ended up with a 8,5 min personal best of 1:51:32 for her. She wants to finish an Ironman this year to really understand what was driving (motivating?) me during my years as a pro. (My friend and Physiotherapist/osteopath, who helped me out many times when I raced as a pro, Martin Schütt ran the full Marathon and could due to a perfect pacing strategy (1:27:11 for the first half) finish with a new personal best of 2:54:43 as well. Conditions were far from ideal because of strong wind up to 60km/hr.)

Congratulations to all our athletes competing this weekend.

Trisutto.com online triathlon coaches are available to help improve your performance here.